Police launch massive manhunt for Brussel’s attack suspect

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A major manhunt is underway for an ISIS suspect in a white coat and black hat who fled Brussels Airport after two explosions ripped through the terminal in a suicide bomb attack this morning, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others.

Police issued a wanted notice for the man who was seen on CCTV calmly pushing a luggage trolley through the check-in area with two other suspects minutes before the blasts at about 8am (7am GMT) today.

His alleged accomplices were wearing black gloves on their left hands, which security sources say would have hidden the triggers for their explosive vests. Bombs were also said to have been planted in their suitcases which they checked in just minutes before the atrocities.

The two men blew themselves up while the third suspect is believed to have left a nail bomb before being spotted running from the terminal.

It is not known if the fugitive then sped to Maelbeek station to carry out the other blast that killed 20 people in a subway train just 79 minutes later.

Belgian police launched the manhunt as ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacres, which killed 34 people in total and injured close to 200 others.

As a series of anti-terror police raids were mounted across Belgium today, prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw confirmed two suicide bombers died in the attack on Brussels’ main airport while the third is being ‘actively’ sought.

In a statement, officers appealed for information about the on-the-run suspect, who was pictured wearing a hat and a light-coloured jacket.

‘Police are looking to identify this man. He is suspected of having committed the attack at Zaventem on Tuesday March 22,’ it said.

It also emerged this afternoon that police had discovered another nail bomb, a number of ‘chemical products’ and an ISIS flag at a house in the Schaerbeek area during a raid in connection with this morning’s attacks.

Police conducted dozens of raids and swooped on a number of suspects as the Belgian Foreign Ministry said many of those behind the terror plot are ‘still at large’.

It came after the world today woke up to yet another deadly terror attack in Europe – just four months after 130 people were massacred in Paris.

In all too familiar scenes, terrifying photos showed bloodied victims and maimed bodies after two bombs were detonated at Brussels’ main airport.

Just 79 minutes later, commuters on their way to work lost limbs as a third bomb tore apart a train carriage on the Metro line in Maelbeek. – killing 14.

Horrifying pictures, many of which resemble the heartbreaking devastation seen in the wake of the London 7/7 bombings, show innocent commuters covered in blood and sprawled out on the floor after being targeted in the attack.

Europe now remains on high alert amid fears of further attacks from ISIS, which has already threatened to hit the UK ‘harder and more bitter’.

In a statement released today following the Brussels attack, the terrorist group said on its official Telegram account: ‘We promise to the states that are allied against the Islamic State that they will face dark days in return for their aggression against our state.

‘And what will await you will become harder and more bitter through the grace of Allah.

‘In praise of Allah who has made our blows precise and helped us succeed. we demand for him to accept our brothers among the martyrs.’

Brussels now remains on lockdown with police desperately carrying out a series of anti-terror raids in a city which has already been deemed a ‘clearing house for jihadism’. More jihadis have travelled from Belgium to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq than have gone from any other European country.

In the wake of November’s Paris massacres, it emerged that those behind the attacks masterminded them from Brussels leading French media to heavily criticise the Belgian authorities.

Bomber Salah Abdeslam, who was finally arrested on Friday, had links with the Brussels district of Moelenbeek – an area with a large North African population – whose mayor once described it a ‘terrorists’ den’ because of the number of jihadists living there.

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